Lummi Island dweller and local literary
star Julie Trimingham will read from her
adventure novel Way Elsewhere, the story
of an unnamed narrator who heads on a
road trip that becomes a fanciful,
wild journey.

C.C. Humphreys will be on-hand for the
monthly meeting of the Whatcom Writers
and Publishers. He is an actor and author
who has published 15 novels, holds an MFA
from the University of British Columbia,
and has won numerous awards for his
crime novels. The event is free, food and
drinks are no-host, and RSVP is required.

Author Lindy West is no stranger to
our readers—a Seattle-area native, she
got her start at The Stranger. She has
gone on to write for The Guardian,
Jezebel, and other outlets, but she
has remained grounded here in the
Northwest. In this bright, hilarious,
and essential memoir, she will make
you pee-laugh as she hacks apart the
patriarchy, fat-phobia, misogyny, and
internet trolls. Full disclosure: she’s one
of my favorite people in the universe.
Fuller disclosure: she’ll be one of your
favorite people, too.

Portland-based Darren Davis’s series
for Storm Entertainment has included
political luminaries like Rand Paul and
Hillary Clinton, so it seems fitting that
Elizabeth Warren would receive her
own comic book. Slaying big financial
interests in a single bound, fighting Wall
Street wizards with her magic powers,
smart, strong Elizabeth Warren saves us
all. Davis’s work has been featured in
Time Magazine, on CNN, and on The
Tonight Show.

WHO KNEW?
Car Trouble
Thelma and Louise have a
direct ancestry to another wild
woman, Bertha Benz. According
to Wikipedia, Bertha was the
first person to take a road trip
by car. “Without the consent
of her husband” she piled her
kids into their fancy Benz PatentMotorwagen 3 and drove from
Mannheim to Pforzheim, which
is about 70 miles. Pforzheim
was Bertha’s home town. Bertha
was a capable mechanic, and
repaired the car’s ignition with
her garter, cleared the fuel
line with her hairpin, and used
leather shoe soles for the break
pads. At 39, this righteous babe
had sand.

24 NorthSoundLife.com

Easy Does It
Though my money is on Kit
Carson Pass in California as
the most dangerous place for
motoring (long story) it has been
long-established that Highway
550, known as The Million Dollar
Highway in Colorado will make
for a white-knuckle hell ride.
People note that it’s the longest
25 miles they’ve ever driven. The
James Dalton Highway in Alaska
is known for major temperature
shifts, horrible high winds, and
man-eating potholes. Any road
known as dangerous on Ice Road
Truckers should probably be a
clue. Dangerous for a different
reason is I-15 from Los Angeles to
Las Vegas. Remember the road
scenes in Fear in Loathing in Las
Vegas? Yeah. Like that.

Bad Sign
Though perhaps the 1978 Volare
can give it a run for its money,
The Ford Edsel has long been
considered the most overengineered lemon ever known
in auto making. It was supposed
to be a symbol of the future, a
harbinger of our technologically
brilliant future. What it became
was a sign that Uncle Tony would
probably also buy Miracle Cream
for Aunt Louise. In other words,
it became a symbol of failure and
gullibility. Sort of like voting
for Trump.

Escape Object
The BMW Isetta was a quirky
little car. The hood of the vehicle
served as its only door, so you
basically climbed in it through
the front, and god forbid you
should forget and park it in a
garage facing the wall. In 1963,
Manfred Koster escaped Eastern
Berlin for the shiny, happy West
in a tiny Isetta using a secret
compartment. Other vehicles
used in escaping the GDR were
the Volkswagen Beetle and the
BMW Mini Cooper. The Stasi
knew to sweep under the cars
with mirrors on long poles, but
they didn’t always catch that
extra load on the frame.